minfin 10-04-21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Discussion ensued on whether the list of budget priorities should be rank ordered and/or reduced, taking into account budget priorities that overlapped with administrative budget proposals. Councilmember Shachner, along with several other members, stated that there was no need to rank the priorities and pointed to the process of amending the budget in the future if need be. He added that his HAWK crosswalk budget proposal was a high priority for him personally. Councilmember O'Malley presented several budget proposals that were not included on the written list. They were hazard pay for essential workers, a master plan for Madison Park, and replenishing the city's property acquisition fund, which was originally seeded with final estate tax revenues. Chairman Bullock reviewed the list of the 19 Council budget priorities, coming to the conclusion that 7 of the 19 are truly new proposals, not continuations of ones from previous years. He summarized that it appeared Councilmembers were not interested in negotiating against themselves and reducing the number of proposals. He added that Council had typically not done a lot of amending to the budget in the past, however that it might need to take that step before the end of the year. Councilmember O'Malley encouraged members to have conversations with the administration about their various projects to see what's affordable and what might have mutual interest. He concluded that time is of the essence and that the Finance Department needs to ample opportunity to bake proposals into the budget over the next 6 weeks. Chairman Bullock inquired as to a good follow up-date/format on potential budget changes. Mayor George stated that all priorities are very worth and that there are many competing ones that her administration attempts to balance in the budget. She noted in total that this year's priorities total $1.8 million and that the earlier members bring their proposals to the city's attention, the easier it is to incorporate them into the city's long-term budget. Director Rancatore stated that the budget is generally prepared by November 15'', and at that point it hasn't been through any changes. He noted that his department would like to have Council priorities set by then to avoid them having a cascading effect throughout the full book. He added that the administration cannot possibly meet them all this year and that it would accommodate them as much as the budget allows. Chairman Bullock suggested moving up the budget priorities process by a month, prior to Council's recess, to urge informal communication on the items. Councilmember O'Malley gave more in depth breakdowns of his budget proposals. He highlighted hazard pay for essential workers who have had to work through the 19-month long pandemic, adding he was unsure of a fair formula to discern between employees' varying levels of labor during the timeframe. Director Dillinger has reached out to other Westshore HR directors and awaiting responses on their hazard pay formulas. Mr. O'Malley spoke to the value